I’m probably going to see better comedies this year, but I don’t think I’m going to laugh at any one as much as I did at The Three Stooges. When I told that to my editors, they both wrote back in disbelief. I know the trailer got a massive amount of flack—the appearance of Snooki was a major criticism—but I’m not alone in my appreciation of the film. My colleague at SlashFilm, Jordan Hoffman, recently shared his like.

And it’s the Farrellys; after nearly 20 years of their films, have we learned to not underestimate them yet? Whatever. The movie is funny, very, very funny and, as Ebert noted in his review, is as good a film that could have been made about The Three Stooges. If you don’t like the original shorts, you probably won’t like it, but if you do, I think you’ll laugh a lot, because the Farrellys stay close to the source.

The plot is as shallow as any of the original shorts—the boys try to raise $830,000 to save an orphanage, getting caught up in several hair-brained, money-making schemes. That’s pretty much it. Of course one of those schemes involves an unwitting assassination, and Moe somehow ends up as the star of Jersey Shore; there’s Larry David as a put-upon nun (with a very pronounced New Jersey accent) and Jane Lynch as Mother Superior; a subplot involving an angry lion at the zoo and a sick kid at the orphanage.

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Fans of the original slapstick trio The Three Stooges were hoping, beyond hope, that when the upcoming rebooted film hit casting troubles when actors like Jim Carrey, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn dropped out, that the production would get buried and never see the light of day. They were wrong.

The film proceeded forward and was made. Now, the first trailer for the upcoming Three Stooges film from The Farrelly Brothers has stumbled onto the web with the cast of Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, and Chris Diamantopoulos as the titular Stooges.

Before you start to defend the film by saying how good There’s Something About Mary was, remember that film is over 12 years old, and these are the same guys that brought us The Heartbreak Kid.

The trailer pretty much speaks for itself, as it features tons of C-list stars and 2 prominent cast members of Jersey Shore. Take a look at the unfortunate trailer after the jump and catch (or don’t) Three Stooges in theaters on April 13th.

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Over the weekend, I rewatched the 1967 Bedazzled, which, if you’re unfamiliar, features Dudley Moore and Peter Cook retelling the story of Faust, or at least using it as a springboard for a series of satirical skits. The movie itself isn’t really laugh-out-loud funny, but, as satire, it’s one of the best takes on the 1960s that aims and strikes at so any targets, it’s at once counter-cultural and conservative.

Cook’s generally regarded as the finest British satirist of the latter half of the 20^th Century, and after the film, I hopped onto YouTube to look up an old episode of the British Whose Line Is It Anyway? where Cook guest starred. Cook isn’t bad in it, but improv and satire are two distinct types of comedy, and Cook, being out of his element, plays it a bit too broad, trying to get laughs from funny voices and silly expressions.

It’s a trend you see when an older comic is asked to partake in something new that they’re not used to and is something I see now and then in Curb. It’s also the first thought that occurred to me when, tonight, Larry was paired with the overly effeminate son of his girlfriend.

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Last year, Ricky Gervais hosted the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards and was received with….mixed reviews. Gervais’ brass and care-free digs on the Hollywood system rocked the celebrity world and some were even “outraged” by some of the comments. Gervais’ response? He wants to do it again.

This time around, he won’t be restricted by the “tightwads” at HFPA or the network. Gervais is taking his jokes to the internet, in what some are calling a “re-dubbed livecast”. The British comedian’s plan is to do a live podcast the same night as the awards show, and have some of his friends stop by for the laughs. Here’s what Ricky had to say over at his blog.

What do you think of this?

A live 3 hour podcast during The Golden Globes. Me and a few chums (like Louis CK, Chris Rock, Karl Pilkington, John Stewart, Larry David popping in and out) doing our own alternative commentary.

People at home can have the telly on with the sound down listening to us online say things that no broadcaster could get away with. 

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I don’t know if Judge Horn was actually a real show, but I really wish it were. According to Larry, he’s a real judge, so it may not be the Perry-Mason-style show I was hoping it to be (and more likely to be a Judge-Judy kind of show), but damn, how great would that be? Especially if it were in black and white and really did feature Judge Horn yelling at the defense for not having their stuff together.

Likewise, I don’t know if Larry David was the one who dreamed up the brilliant fictional movies that peppered the Seinfeld universe (Chunnel and Firestorm being my personal favorites), but if he ever gets tired of Curb and wants a new project, in a perfect world, he could bring those gems to the screen (how many people would cheer at the line, “Everybody out of the Chunnel!”?).

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Okay, okay, I get it—Larry’s “juicin’” (is this actually a legitimate term for taking Viagra?), and that upsets his girlfriend because they’re at the Baseball Hall of Fame. I still don’t quite buy it, and you have to admit it’s pretty shoehorned in (would a woman who’s so sexually charged that she’ll sleep with Larry Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and Rosie O’Donnell Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday really have a problem with one of her partners taking medication—especially when she reaps the benefits?), but it’s nice to know that Curb cares.

There’s a few parts of the story that don’t really fit (was there a point to Larry adamantly refusing to be friends with, uh, Dougenstein? If there was, I’ve already forgotten it)—and what’s up with Rosie O’Donnell’s tan?—but the humor more than makes up for any faults.

This is totally the “Larry in New York” episode I’ve been waiting for, and it gives me an appreciation for the sense of location with which the episode, and the series as a whole, has. I’ve been to New York, and while I’m no expert, there’s a vibe to it that Curb captured beautifully: the cramped feeling, the recycled red brick apartments, the semi-elegant trendiness. I probably won’t be able to score some V from a Charlton Heston lookalike getting his ear grazed on by a sexy blonde in the park, but it feels right.

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Any episode that begins with Jeff and Susie giving Larry the visual “go ahead” when an attractive woman is seated next to him on the plane gears itself up to be a stellar installment. Add to that Larry trying to chat up the woman by not-so-subtly edging her drink away from his side of the armrest, getting shot down and insisting that he has better game, and then heading to the bathroom to prepare, well, in short, I loved this one.

Need I even mention that Larry unwittingly becomes a hero by tripping over his own shoelaces and into a drunk and disorderly passenger (whom I suspect to be Jerry from Parks and Recreation—IMDB isn’t much of a help, but am I right?), thereby becoming a hero?

Or Larry meeting up with Ricky Gervais (who, aside from sporting a hilarious scarf, is starring in the Broadway play “Mr. Simington,” which he delightfully describes as “One man’s fear of World War I and what’s going to happen”)? Or Larry attending the Greens’ dinner party and getting seated next to a gent who has racial prejudice against Spaniards?

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I wrote two weeks ago about the fact that Jeff and Susie’s kid Sammy has grown up, and this time we see (well, not actually “see”) the aging of another character: the Greens’ semi-beloved dog Oscar, who’s got to be getting up there, having been around since at least season 3, when he sniffed out a potential corpse buried beneath the restaurant. Now, Oscie-boy’s finally put down, and his last meal of Pinkberry ice cream is denied when Larry and Jeff eat it in progressively larger bites on the trip back to the vet’s.

The real-time aspect to Curb has always seemed weird to me. The show’s consistent with it, but it’s never seemed necessary—in the show’s 11 years, Larry, Jeff, Susie, Cheryl, Marty Funkhauser, and many others don’t appear to age. Maybe it’s because the ones who do (evidently that’s only Sammy and Oscar) aren’t explored too often, whereas someone like Richard Lewis defies age—he’s heading into his mid-60s, yet he still lands these girls in their late 20s to early 30s. And what about Nat? Will we ever see him again?

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I know there’s a lot of ladies reading this, so I’m going to start out with a question: Significant other aside, would you date/make out with Larry?

He doesn’t strike me as the world’s most gorgeous man (that would be guest star and People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” at least for 1986, Harry Hamlin), but he takes care of himself, might make you laugh, and, of course, he could dip his bald head in oil and rub it all over you body.

It doesn’t have anything to do with episode (well, Larry does date a curvaceous restaurant hostess), it’s just that after this one, Cheryl, Lucy Lawless, Gina Gershon’s character from season 4, and last week’s Palestinian women (and, to an extent, her sister), I’m curious if Mr. David is really God’s gift to women.

“The Smiley Face,” has a lot going for it with guest star Hamlin, the return of Larry’s assistant Antoinette (one of my favorite characters), and even some Lewis, but it’s one of those that seems more focused on the plotting than the humor.

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It’s an unspoken law of Curb that Larry’s powers can never be used for good, and any attempt to break that law carries an alarmingy high penalty. I have a soft spot for episodes like this, because more often than not I sympathize with Larry, so I like any episode that suggests it’s Larry who’s sane and there’s cosmological forces conspiring against him.

It’s not any surprise that things such as asking a friend’s wife to stop saying “Lol” instead of laughing or telling Susie to cut out that annoying “Ahhh” after taking a sip backfires. More surprising is that each women immediately suspects that it was her husband who put Larry up to pointing out their flaws. Accurate as their suspicions may be, it’s still not out of character for Larry to say anything (nor out character for anyone wanting to take advantage of his “social assassin” skills), but do women have an ability to distinguish between what’s authentically Larry and what’s not?

But supernaturality aside, “Palestinian Chicken” is a first-rate episode (after two somewhat lackluster installments). Not only do we get to see sex with an anti-semitic beauty (the owner of the Al Abba chicken restaurant who blurts out a stream of insults during coitus, my favorite being, “I want to f*ck the Jew right out of you”) from Larry’s perspective, but we also get it from a now-deeply religious Marty Funkhauser’s perspective as he awkwardly sits downstairs. Added to that is Larry’s habit of singing the theme song to the 1955 Adventures of Robin Hood TV show post sex. Genius.

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If you’re a fan of improv comedy you are probably a regular watcher of Larry David and the gang on Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show, which shows the life of Seinfeld co-creator and exec. producer David and cadre of friends and relatives, has developed a large and loyal following and fans are anxiously awating the start of the new season.

Well, that waiting is soon to come to an end with the eighth season set to debut in July. The new season brings David and friends to New York and this is sure to create all new situations where David will do something awkward and get into trouble.

After all, that’s what he seems to excel at. Of course that’s also one of the things people love about the show: David is the guy you love to hate.

Check out the trailer after the jump. Season 8 of Curb Your Enthusiasm debuts on July 10th at 10/9C.

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Here’s a list of things that made a blip on The Flickcast’s radar this week from around the Internets, Twitter and beyond. Let us know if we missed anything cool so we can include it in the next installment of On the Radar.

• Planning a LOST finale party? Well, no party is complete without LOST BINGO!

• Morgan Spurlock, Harry Knowles, Stan Lee and Joss Whedon teaming up to fight crime. . . er make a documentary about San Diego Comic-Con.

• Apparently, nobody in the US gives a crap about Manga. We could have told you that.

• James Cameron’s Avatar has sold a metric butt load of DVDs and Blu-rays. Color us blue for surprised.

• Larry David and friends head to NYC to do the last season of Curb. That show is still on?

• Are you a fan of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? How about Lord of The Rings? Well, what if Gandalf sang the opening theme? Mind = Blown!

• Did you get a chance to check out Maggie Q in the new show Nikita? If not, what are you waiting for?

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